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Sides meet in mosque dispute

Representatives of the mosque and neighbors who oppose it air their grievances Monday night

By JOHN LATIMERStaff Writer

Updated:
09/26/2011 11:17:35 PM EDT

As Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello, center, listens in on Monday night, Hamid Housni, vice president of the Lebanon Valley Mosque, explains to city resident Patricia Evely about the mosque s plans to locate in her neighborhood. (LEBANON DAILY NEWS JOHN LATIMER)

After weeks of airing their views in the local media, representatives of a Lebanon mosque and residents who do not want it in their neighborhood met at Monday's night's Lebanon City Council meeting.

Their meeting was an impromptu one, not on the agenda. And it may not be their last.

The dispute began simmering this summer when the Lebanon Valley Mosque signed an agreement of sale to purchase a building on Florence Street. The narrow, two-way alley is near 13th and Elm streets, a quiet tree-lined neighborhood on the city's south side.

For decades, the one-story building has been operating with a variance as a commercial entity, most recently as the Lebanon County Realtors Association's multiple listing service.

Because the neighborhood is zoned Residential-Low Density, the mosque, like any place of worship, is a permitted use as long as it meets other building code requirements. Paramount among them is that they not exceed an occupancy of three people per its 12 parking spaces.

Residents of the neighborhood are concerned the traffic the mosque will generate from its five daily prayer services will be disruptive and pose a threat to young children who play in the area. They even went so far as to circulate a petition opposing the mosque, garnering about 30 signatures.

Mosque representatives have stated that most services only attract a handful of worshippers, with the exception of Friday, when as many as 35 members might attend the popular afternoon service between 1 and 2 p.

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When the mosque issue was brought up by city resident Carl Jarboe at council's meeting on Thursday, it caused Councilman Richard Wertz, who lives in the neighborhood, to state that bigotry might be at the core of the dispute. His comments were reported in Monday's Lebanon Daily News and did not sit well with other neighborhood residents Liz Masser and Patricia Evely.

Masser told council she and other residents are being portrayed unfairly, and she vehemently denied being prejudiced against the mosque. She said it is solely a matter of safety and suggested that speed bumps or stop signs should be placed on Florence Street.

"I can only speak for myself," she said. "I am not racist. I am not a bigot. I am concerned about the kids in our neighborhood."

Mayor Sherry Capello said she understood the concerns but repeated that the mosque has the right to occupy the Florence Street building if it complies with the building code by making the appropriate changes. Whether the owners can do that must still be decided, and that determination will be made by the new zoning officer, she said.

"It is zoned Residential-Low Density, but churches are a permitted use in a residential area," she said. "I understand your concern with traffic and lighting and all of those (concerns). I don't want to say unfortunately, but because there is a commercial building existing there, they have some grandfathered rights. But when it comes to safety we don't want to overlook some things, so we are taking a harder look at things. We are not ignoring what you are saying."

When Masser sat down, it was Evely's turn. She also expressed anger at being labeled a bigot.

"First of all I want to say, we are not bigots. You don't know me, and you don't know us," she said to Wertz.

Wertz apologized and explained that his comments were not directed at the neighbors but at those who have made inflammatory comments about the mosque.

"This culture since 9/11, 2001, has generated those kinds of feelings," he said. "I didn't mean to be directing it at you guys."

Evely repeated Masser's assertion that the issue is safety and not who is occupying the building.

"I wouldn't want a kindergarten there either. ... We don't want anything that is going to upset our neighborhood," she said.

Hamid Housni, vice president of the mosque, was also at Monday's meeting. He said the mosque is willing to meet neighbors' demands about safety and would even be willing to use street parking and leave the alley vacant of cars.

However, Housni is skeptical that safety is the only issue.

"But to say that the reason they don't want us there is because of the safety, because of the traffic, that is not true," he said. "If safety is the reason, we can work with them or the city, or whomever to solve the problem. ... We left our homeland for freedom, and what is happening now, it seems like we are fighting for that freedom."

Two people in the audience - Cornell Wilson, who is the city's Elm Street manager and lives on North Ninth Street, where the mosque is currently located, and Mike Ceres, a resident of the Florence Street neighborhood who has lived in several Middle Eastern countries - suggested the mosque and the residents seek mediation to get over their differences. Ceres even offered to do it himself.

When the meeting ended a short time later, Housni and Evely, along with other residents began speaking quietly with each other in a corner of the room, accompanied by Capello.

While no resolution was reached, contact information was exchanged among both sides, Capello said, and a desire to discuss things further was expressed.